Spoilers ahead for the January 31 episode of 9-1-1: Lone Star Season 3, called “Push.”
Season 3 of 9-1-1: Lone Star has quite literally been ice cold, and the last episode of the ice storm arc had to deal with Grace stranded and in labor with just Billy by her side, Owen struggling to find a way to help people while his son was possibly dying, T.K. going back and forth with his dream version of his mom, and Carlos in anguish by his side despite their shocking breakup. All season, it’s been clear that there are unresolved feelings between the two halves of Tarlos, but what hasn’t been clear is what went wrong. “Push” finally explained the situation with a whole lot of emotion, now the question is: what comes next?
Why T.K. And Carlos Broke Up
Well, the very good news was that not only did everybody escape the ice storm with their lives, but Grace gave birth to a healthy baby girl and T.K. and Carlos are back together! It wasn’t an easy reconciliation between the two of them, but they managed to get back on the same page while T.K. was comatose, so… soul mates?
Carlos didn’t want to leave T.K.’s side, but delivered a speech all about how mad he was at T.K., and that he couldn’t so much as hold his hand without it feeling like “a violation.” T.K., for his part, could hear at least part of Carlos’ speech, and that was enough for the imaginary Gwyn to pull the full story out of her son.
And the truth came out: T.K. broke up with Carlos. In true T.K., fashion, it was because things were going too well. As it turns out, after Carlos’ townhouse burned down as one of the many crises toward the end of Season 2, they found a downtown loft that would have been perfect… if T.K. had better credit and could afford to go halves with Carlos. And that’s where the sadness of the breakup became downright tragic, as T.K. regretfully continued:
Then we had to deal with the crushing disappointment. … Mostly mine. Carlos said he didn’t care where he lives so long as it’s with me, so we agreed to keep looking. Until eventually he says he thinks he found something, and he takes me back to the same exact place and says ‘Surprise! It’s ours.’ So, without telling me, he went back and made an offer. … Romantic? It’s a total power move. … It could be both. It was a really sweet power move. He didn’t want me to feel like I was living in his place again, so he put me on the deed. He knew I didn’t have the money but he still made me a half-owner… And then I panicked. Everything was perfect. And then I did the thing. I blew it up.
Gwyn may have been imaginary, but I have to think that her huge smile and insistence that what Carlos did was incredibly sweet matched what plenty of viewers were feeling at the reveal. T.K. emotionally admitted that he hurt Carlos so much and didn’t know if he would take him back, and Gwyn convinced him that he needed to wake up to find out. One health crisis later, and they were embracing in T.K.’s hospital bed, and clearly back together again. Tarlos is back on!
What Happens Next For T.K. And Carlos
Luckily, 9-1-1: Lone Star didn’t leave their next step totally ambiguous. Carlos brought T.K. up to their loft apartment, and T.K. discovered that Carlos had moved him in while he was in the hospital. Instead of panicking and taking this as a deal-breaking power move, T.K. was very touched, and it has to rank among the very sweetest scenes that have ever come out of this show. The ice storm arc that started with them miserably apart and didn’t wait too long before putting T.K. back on death’s door came to a very happy ending for Tarlos, so what does the next chapter hold?
Well, the course of true love never runs smoothly when it comes to relationships in primetime television, so Tarlos may not be in for fully smooth sailing moving forward. That said, they’re pretty settled, and I don’t know that T.K. will panic and blow things up again after what happened leading up to their reunion. Actor Ronen Rubinstein hyped some intense stories for the two characters in Season 3; whether this ice storm arc was what he was talking about or if there’s more on the way remains to be seen. If things are going well, I can imagine that their relationship might take a backseat to any other relationship generating some drama.
There seemed to be some sparks flying between Owen and his neighbor, although he seems set on staying down from his place in the hills. I truly hope that Grace and Judd just get to be happy with baby Charlie for a while, after all they’ve been through. The promo for the next episode of Lone Star indicates that the heroes of the 126 might wind up working with (or against) the police, and doesn’t give a sign of any relationship drama. It does look like a pretty thrilling hour of TV!
Fortunately, 9-1-1: Lone Star is not following along with some of NBC’s biggest hits as well as other broadcast network shows and taking a break from new episodes during the Olympics, as it will be back with a new episode next Monday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. It will hang onto that 8 p.m. slot until 9-1-1 comes back in March, when it will be bumped to 9 p.m. but remain paired with the parent series in the 2022 TV schedule.
